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Brady's stats are impressive, but rings have dried up

By David Pevear, dpevear@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/27/2013 06:41:41 AM EST

Back when New Englanders were emboldened by the Patriots winning three Super Bowls in four years, they would scoff at Peyton Manning's impressive statistics by lordly noting that rings were what really mattered.

Well, Tom Brady is becoming what we once scoffed at.

Once a man of modest statistics and loud jewelry, Brady more recently has been a fantasy-football windfall whose post-season aura is trending toward the mainstream. To quote the painfully precise Terrell Suggs: "Have fun at the Pro Bowl." Except Brady is skipping that low-energy exhibition Sunday due to an unspecified injury, one most likely caused by bearing the collective weight of an entire football organization and region leaning on him.

The Patriots with Brady as their quarterback have hardly run their course. He is still the biggest reason the Patriots are the NFL's most consistent winners, just slightly bigger in the equation than coach Bill Belichick, whose updated calling card is teams that really kick butt in December.

Moving forward from last Sunday's gloom, the 35-year-old Brady remains the centerpiece around which another Super Bowl champion may yet be constructed. But linebackers who can cover, better depth at cornerback, and a running game that works when it absolutely has to -- and not just as a sneak attack -- would better serve Brady than paying up to keep beloved Wes Welker or over-concentrating energies and resources on trying to find him a deep threat.

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(Brandon Lloyd was a nice addition this season, but not really as down-the-field as advertised.)

An over-reliance on Brady when the going gets difficult is why the Patriots have gone eight seasons without a Duck Boat parade. Back in the championship days, burdens and responsibilities were spread around -- a Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel there, an Antowain Smith and Corey Dillon there, and, of course, Adam Vinatieri in the end.

It soon thereafter turned into Brady or bust.

The Patriots' 28-13 loss to the Ravens in the AFC title game last Sunday was an A-to-Z poor performance. Most striking, though, was an offense that scored a league-high 557 points during the regular season being shut out at home in the second half while unable to run the ball -- even though the Patriots had run it well this season -- against a defense that was playing the pass. This hints at these Patriots lacking whatever burns inside certain players that drives them to step up to the big stage and embrace difficult challenges. The Ravens have those players. Such Patriots are now honorary captains and starring in highlights on the video board.

Last Sunday Brady did have his sixth career 300-yard passing game in the post-season, which tied him with Joe Montana and Kurt Warner for second all-time behind Manning's eight. The Patriots are 4-2 in Brady's 300-yard playoff games. What's revealing, though, is only twice did Brady throw for 300 yards while starting his career 10-0 in the post-season (7-7 since). Brady's Super Bowl-winning passing yardage totals were 145, 354 and 236. Which suggests it wasn't all about Brady.

Only now it is.

During the Patriots' last two Super Bowl-winning years, 2003-04, Brady finished those regular seasons ranked sixth and tenth, respectively, in passing yards. In TD passes, he was 10th in the league in 2003, sixth in 2004.

The first time Brady threw for more than 4,000 yards and led the league in passing yards was in 2005, the first season after the last championship.

This season he was fourth in the league in both passing yards (4,827) and touchdown passes (34).

Brady's legacy is secure. It matters not how long ago he was a three-time Super Bowl winner (and a two-time Super Bowl MVP), those rings are forever on his record. The greatest-QB-ever debate remains, for the time being, a Montana-Unitas-Brady conversation.

And the Brady-Belichick tandem is still like having the Yankees' payroll. It practically assures the Patriots will reach the post-season again next season (it also helps being pitted against incompetents in the AFC East).

Then it's a crapshoot -- to see if someone besides Brady will step up.

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